fall {twenty-eleven}

it's fall {twenty-eleven}...and in two days we are entering the month of December already...WOW! as i shared last night on my photography blog {they say 'time flies'} i really don't understand why the days, week, months, years go by so quickly.  here we are with our Mason on the edge of turning 2 and Levi just turned 4 months.  and with time passing us by at the blink of an eye...its time for family pictures again! ...of course, you know me...i can't resist a few photographs.  AND i can't resist one of my favorite photographers...Tiffani Sunshine...who has over the past 3.5 years captured our family + our journey in life...{an engagement, wedding, maternity x 2 AND family x 2}...she's amazing.  so here are a few photos that i have chosen to share with you...i hope you enjoy my beautiful family as MUCH as i do.

  

a little farm fun

This afternoon we headed to the farm for a little fun!  Andy got home from work early + wanted to do a little work on some tree stands...so an afternoon family outing it was.  Of course Mason was ready to 'work', 'farm', 'paw paw', 'tracty', 'granny', 'fun'...and his list of vocabulary rambling started.  Mason is an absolute hoot when it comes to going somewhere fun...like the farm.  He starts going through his vast vocabulary list, saying about every word he knows related to where we were going.  So away we went, for a few hours on the farm to cut limbs from tree stands + look at food plots.  AND OF COURSE, I brought my camera...+ had to take a few pictures on our little men!

Bebi is THREE months

Bebi is THREE months...I can't hardly believe it!  Where is the time going?!  I am in utter amazement at how fast time goes by as i am watching my two boys grow up.  Mason will be 2 in December AND Levi is already 3 months.  Like everyone says "they'll be in college before you know it"...and I BELIEVE it!  They are the absolute LOVES of my life + what a joy to watch them grow + share in this special time!  Levi is now smiling all of the time now + LOVES his big brother {his big brother is pretty darn fond of him too}!  He is also grabbing + pulling on toys AND even sitting up in his bumbo! This little man is also AMAZING his parents...he has slept through the night 5 nights in the last 10 days, of which...we are a 2 night running streak {maybe tonight will be night 3}!  He has been sleeping from 9-6 most nights!  GO BEBI!  You are making momma + daddy SO proud {our little Mason did not sleep through the night continuously until he was 10 MONTHS}!  So here he is...our BIG BOY...OUR BEBI at THREE MONTHS!

Puntin {Pumpkin} Carving

After a relaxing Sunday morning at home with the boys {minus me locking us out of the house} + a nice afternoon nap, we finally had a chance while Bebi was sleeping to carve ONE of our BIG pumpkins.  That is 'Puntin' in Masonisian.  M had lots of fun, a little too much I think. He wanted a kitty carved on the puntin, so we tried for a scary kitty!  Ha..take a look + tell us what you think!  We have not had a chance to light in the dark, but hopefully later this week when we have a chance to carve our other puntin!  Here are few pictures to highlight our puntin carving adventures!

 

Pickin' Totton!

I shared this post over on my photography blog but thought I would share it here as well.  This past week the boys + I headed out to the country filled with cotton fields {also known as 'totton' by Mr. Mason}.  It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day to be out with the most special 2 boys in the whole world! 

Trunk or Treat >> 2011

Trunk or Treat 2011 >> we had a blast last night at Main Street Baptist in Emporia with our cousin Bracey!  We had our little "do-da-do" {cock-a-doodle-do} + pea pod {aka :: pea-bop by big brother Mason}.  We had lots of fun at the cake-walk + won a beautiful box of cupcakes; we played mini-golf + basketball; went for a hayride + did the truck or treat!  This evening made for 2 VERY tired boys >> be-bop slept from 9:30-7 last night {too much partying}!  Now...today we are carving our BIG pumpkins...stay tuned...more pictures coming!

nothing better

nothing better...simply...than this little man! just spending time with momma on this beautiful fall afternoon while big brother M naps!  we had a busy morning with cleaning up the house, laundry, baking some cookies + hot apple cider, a play date with friends {Avery + Caleb} + lunch together.  mom + mason are off to a FUN 'thomas the train' birthday party for Liam AND then we are off to a fall cookout with friends for the evening.  we HEART this time of year. we are so blessed with so many great friends + family... + love spending our weekends together!

a long time again.

Here I am again, its been way to long since my last blog post.  I am working hard to make my posts + updates much more frequent now {even though I now have even less time}...but I'll try!   I did spend a little time within the last few weeks giving our blog a face-lift ...{2plus2}...hope you enjoy it! So, its been since last April that I last blogged AND so much has changed.  First + foremost would be the arrival our newest addition Mr. Levi >> arriving on July 23, 2011, weighing 6 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches long.  He is a handsome man.  He was a little bit of a surprise at 2:11am {not to be too exact} when i woke up with contractions 3 minutes apart!  Needless to say...I was a basket-case + in a little panic.  Me {Miss Planner}, no mom here yet + 5 days early!  But everything was just fine...we were ready for Levi, I just wanted my momma here + have time to show her everything she needed to know to survive with Mason for 4 days by herself.  What was I thinking....she didn't need me to survive.  She arrive 12 hours after Levi's debut AND had a blast with Mason while we were in the hospital! My hospital stay this time around was easy with this surgery {c-section} being MUCH better + faster healing than the previous. 

Levi >> 1 month

 

 Levi >> 2 months

We are absolutely in love with this little man AND, best of all, big brother Mason adores him.  Mason loves to hold Levi {that would be 'catch Bebi', for those not familiar with Masonisian}!  They are two peas in a pod + I am looking forward  to watching these two grow together.  We were very fortunate to have my mother here for 4 weeks after Levi was born, she was an amazing help + much needed!  She was Mason's world during her stay.  They spent countless hours making 'A's' {that is drawing on the road with side-walk chalk}, going for walks to find 'Jarbage' trucks, 'tracties', bulldozers,+ choo-choo's, playing in the pool 'spashing damoo' {damoo became my mothers name via Masonisian}, reading books {the favorite, the little train that could}..+ the list goes on.  Also during this time my sister, brother + dad were able to spend a few days here with us...ALL as ONE BIG happy family.  It was so amazing to have my entire family here, to spend time with my two little gems!

Upon my family leaving + a few weeks later with me returning to work, Mason started a one day per week pre-school at Mrs. Elizabeth's.  

Mason is absolutely LOVING pre-school, has an amazing time AND has been a BIG boy!  He has met lots of friends, is always learning new things + makes neat projects each day!  Mason is changing every day.  I feel like every time we turn around he says a new word, is putting words together, is problem solving, helping us out with chores + projects...he is an amazing child!  He has even spent a few hours with momma at work, helping me auger holes + take notes!  

 

I went back to work for Enviro-Utilities at the end of September, after spending 9 weeks at home on maternity leave my boys. {quick side note: While on maternity leave we did have an exciting earthquake a few days after my parents left AND a few days after that we have hurricane Irene strike.  Irene was a horrible storm that left us without power for 5 days.  Our neighborhood, post Irene, looked like a war zone.  We had a total of 29 trees down in our little neighborhood, all light lines on the ground, power poles snapped in half, transformers laying in pools of water, 10+ inches of rain, shed's crushed..it was a disaster.  Still today, there is clean-up to be done.  But it has been amazing to see the resident's of our little Town come together to clean up the storm aftermath.}  I am also still doing my photography on the week nights {after the boys go to bed} + on the weekends.  I absolutely LOVE it + it is my creative time to be me + do what I absolutely LOVE to do.  Andy is still working with H&H Forest Management + is busy as always with work + family, but trying to find time for a little hunting.  He + Mason are actually at the Farm at this moment, putting of tree stands for hunting!

Some exciting news from Michigan this past week...my sister, Ashley, got engaged to her boyfriend Josh while on a trip to Greece.  They are planning a destination wedding for summer of 2013 in Hawaii.  We are VERY excited for them + what their future holds!  {P.S. We are also waiting on my little brother to propose to his girl...we have bets amongst our family as to when that might be..hehe.}

Well, I have to run...Bebi is calling for his momma.  I hope to most some new pictures this weekend.  Hoping to have a chance to take the boys out to the cotton fields for pictures.  Stay tuned!

Oh bLoG hoW i hAvE miSSed yoU!

WOW...i just realized that is has been since December of 2010...yes - 2010...since i have last updated our family blog + shared any news, pictures, happenings, events, etc. AND OH BOY! Do you I have lots to share! Where to start?!

Well, in early December of 2010 Andy, Mason + I announced the exciting news that we are expecting our 2nd child...and YES! it's a BOY! He is due to arrive on August 4, 2011...and he will be named Levi Samuel. Samuel is a family name on my fathers side +Levi is just one of our favorites. WE are super excited + can't wait for him to arrive...ONLY 14.5 more weeks! Baby Levi is growing well, right on target AND momma is feeling great! AND Mason is super excited for baby brother Levi too! He knows that momma's belly is 'baby'!

So this winter, January 15, 2011 we started construction on our house, the addition of a den/office onto our Master bedroom. We hated to add on to this house as we know we will not be here too long, but we need the extra space for the BOYS + office space since both Andy + I work from home. AND it will be a few years before we are ready to build our home. So an addition it is! We constructed a 12' x 12' addition onto our existing Master Bedroom with help from Grizzard Construction AND Andy's woodworking talent. Within 1 month we had entirely completed our addition, tore the carpeting out of the living room and hallway - replaced it with wood flooring, AND transformed our 'old' office room into Mason's BIG BOY ROOM! Mason LOVES his new room - complete with a BIG boy bed, a toy chest, a book shelf, trucks, lawn mowers, rocking chair...what more could a little man ask for?! He LOVES it {so do mom + dad, it gives us an extra room to store all of the toys + books}.

On a sad note, we lost our dear Sadie-bug at the end of January. She was hit in the road in our town. It was a very hard good bye to our dear friend, roommate, partner..BUT she is now in doggy heaven chasing LOTS of bunnies + deer all over. We buried her on the family farm up near her other doggy friends.

At the end of March {2011}, Mason + I took a long weekend trip to MINNESOTA to visit Grama + Papa! We had an amazing 5 day weekend filled with lots of visits, LOVE, laughs, hugs + kisses {from both Grama/Papa AND the llamas}! Lotty + Dotty {Grama + Papa's pet llamas} were MASON'S absolute highlight of his trip, aside from Grama + Papa! He has always had a FOND LOVE for llamas, including his favorite book to date is LLAMA LLAMA RED PAJAMA! It was great seeing our family, oh how we miss you ALL so very much. We hope to be making our way back up there at the end of June to celebrate my aunt's wedding {travel is depending on my pregnancy...i will be 33.5 - 34.5weeks pregnant at time of travel - my doctor is NOT to fond of that}. I just pray that everything is going well a few weeks prior to - so that I can have approval to head NORTH one more time before the arrival of Levi! If we are able to come up, we will be visiting for 9 DAYS! Can't wait!

I think that is about all of the news from the JONES house for now. We are steadily working on little projects around the house - building sand boxes + swing sets, building tables, working on our yard, working on our RIVER property, etc. I am still at home part time with Mason AND wouldn't change it for the world...he is the ABSOLUTE apple of my eye. EVERYDAY he is learning something new! He knows all of his animals + colors, body parts, can do little tasks when asked {put this in the laundry or trash, can you please hand me something}...he simply amazes me day by day! He is growing up WAY to fast. Within the next month he will be moving into his BIG boy room AND starting potty training {he already tells us when he is wet AND has pooped - pretty good i say for a 16 month old}. Well , I suppose I should get to bed AND allow SOME pictures to upload! Hope you enjoyed our little family update! I hope to update more frequently in the future...when I find MORE time, that is =D LOVE + HUGS from the Jones family! {p.s. not sure why the pictures are showing up blurry, sorry}.